Manganese Mountain

51.1550N -116.394WLocated in the Ice River Valley between the Ice River and Moose Creek; 1.6 km west of Buttress Peak

Range: Ottertail Province: BCPark: Kootenay/YohoHeadwater: Columbia

Ascent Date: 1956Ascent Party: T.A. Mutch

Year Named: 1924Named for: The mountain lies in the only mineralized area of the Canadian Rockies.

The Ice River valley and surrounding peaks is said to be the only area of "mineralization" in the Canadian Rockies. This occurred in conjunction with an igneous intrusion, rare in the Rockies. Some of the names in the valley such as Zinc Mountain, Manganese Mountain, Garnet Mountain, Sodalite Creek, Garnet Creek, and Zinc Creek reflect the geological interest shown by George Dawson, Tom Wilson, Edward Whymper and others who first explored to the head of the Ice River.

At one point, Tom Wilson proposed mining the sodalite in the base of the Ice River. The zinc deposits along the eastern slopes of the valley were "worked" for a period of time near the end of the nineteeth century.

Photo: Looking northeast up the Ice River Valley to Manganese Mountain from the Beaverfoot Valley Road